At Least 50 Dead, Mostly Children, as Overloaded Boat Capsizes in Sokoto
news
An overloaded boat carrying farm workers and children capsized on a river near Gorau in Sokoto State’s Goronyo LGA, killing at least 50 people in one of the year’s deadliest waterway disasters.
At least 50 people, most of them children, have died after an overloaded boat capsized on Thursday, August 20, 2026, near Gorau in the Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State, according to officials, witnesses and residents.
The boat was carrying more than 70 people — mostly farm owners and hired labourers heading to rice farms, along with children aged between 10 and 15 — when it capsized shortly after setting off to cross the river, residents said. Abdulkadir Yusuf, Sokoto state manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, put the toll at 47 “so far,” while eyewitnesses at the scene said the number of recovered bodies had risen past 50, with some reports citing 53. Officials said 16 people had been rescued, and the village head was among the survivors.
A Reuters witness saw dozens of bodies, many wrapped in mats and traditional cloths, laid out at a community mosque in Gorau ahead of burial. Rescue operations were continuing on Thursday, with local divers searching for the missing.
Deadly boat accidents are relatively common in Nigeria, where overcrowding, poor maintenance and weak enforcement of safety rules contribute to disasters on the country’s rivers, especially during the rainy season.
